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Co-op Life

Life in a cooperative differs significantly from other options open
to students in Lane County. "Free to be you and me" has been used to
describe our co-op. While living in the co-op, students are free from
the rigid schedules (and rigid food) of the dorms. We are free from
dealing with landlords, because we are our own landlords.
Members/owners are answerable to no one but their co-owners, the other
members.

With no one responsible for how we live but ourselves, we must
accept, with our freedoms, the responsibilities that follow. Because
there is no cafeteria staff preparing food for us we must plan, order
and cook our own food. Because there is no absentee landlord, we must
take on the responsibility of maintaining our houses. Long, long ago, a
co-oper in a distant land put it well when she reported:

The person who expects to escape from rules and
responsibilities by moving into a co-op is disillusioned. For in the
co-op each individual finds he is expected to not only look after themselves, but to consider the rights of fellow members.... We have
responsibilities to other members and privileges which are in
themselves responsibilities.